Is This Mind Octopied

Octopuses are mysterious in so many ways that some have speculated they are aliens from beyond planet Earth

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When I was a kid in the 50’s, I was intrigued by Plastic Man’s one flaw in his superpower; his colors stayed the same even when he changed his shape. Those colors were an automatic tip-off to the bad guys. It was Plastic Man’s version of Superman’s Kryptonite. Too bad. Still, he could change into any shape he wanted. I couldn’t do that, but I would’ve if I could’ve.

Humans can’t change shape whenever they want to.

Octopus’s can.

Better yet, they can change their color as well, and they can also change the texture of their skin. Using all three abilities they can appear to be all sorts of creatures. They can even disappear into the background by taking on the color, shape, and texture of the background.

Plastic Man could only wish he had those extra super powers.

The Octopus is mysterious in many ways.

Octopuses are mysterious in so many ways that some have speculated they are aliens from beyond planet Earth – although, they are related to squid and cuttlefish - but that may be only because all three arrived on Earth as frozen eggs stuck in the crevice of a meteor.

“What nonsense”, snort die-hard evolutionists. “Science will get their evolutionary tree precisely figured out - eventually”.

Other scientists aren’t so sure.

Some evolutionists think the octopus evolved from the Muensterelloidea during the Jurassic period. They’ve even charted out a chain of relatives from Muensterelloidea to Octopi.

I’ve seen the chart. A lot of the jumps seem more speculative than certain.

But then, I’m skeptical of many theories.

If we stick to verifiable science, the octopus is weird enough to be from outer space.

Octopuses’ nervous system consists of two brains connected to eight arms that contain two thirds of the total system. Every sucker on these arms can both taste and touch, even when severed from the main body.

Octopus have no skeleton, which is why they can morph into any shape, and why they can squeeze through any opening that will allow passage of their very small parrot-like beak.

Octopus eyes have an iris, retina, and lens that seem to have developed independently from any known earthly model.

Octopuses can walk, with two of their eight arms serving as legs. They can do this under water or on land. Plus, they can survive outside of water for nearly half an hour.

Octopuses have specialized skin cells called, chromatophores, that can be squeezed to display any color from a four-color palette of pigments inside each cell – similar to the way color pixels on TV screens combine only a few colors to make full-color pictures. The muscles of their skin can contort to mimic nearly any texture.

They can do all this at the speed of a finger-click.

Octopuses have nearly 10,000 more genes than a human. Some of which may account for Octopi superpowers.

Plastic Man would be impressed.

Octopuses can use tools, open jars, solve puzzles, plan, play, stare humans in the eye and recognize individual humans - some of whom they prefer over other humans. Every octopus has a unique personality.

The octopied mind is an unparalleled enigma.

Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote, “If a lion could speak our language, we could not understand it.” The contextual viewpoint of the lion might make translation into English nearly impossible. How much more so the mind of an octopus.

We know Octopuses think. We know very little about what they think, or even how they think. Maybe we never will. Humans and octopuses have known about each other for millennia and still aren’t really acquainted.

In large part that’s because most human interaction with Octopuses has been culinary.

Humans think Octopuses are delicious - and so what if we eat them. They may be smart but after all, they’re just animals. Besides that, none of them live longer than six years. Some species die of old age before they get to age three. Eating them can’t make much of a difference anyway.

I wonder if cannibals think intelligent humans taste just as good as stupid humans.

By  K. L. Shipley

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